My Second
by angelcakes19
Summary: Starscream ran from the Nemesis to deactivate himself in peace. What events have led up to this point and can Megatron ever be a good bondmate to his second? Story referenced in Old Patterns.
1. Found

_Author's Notes- Hi, for those of you who have read Old Patterns this is the story I was referring to. _

_Bold- Comm link._

_Italics- Thoughts/memories/link speak._

_Pairing- Megatron and Starscream._

_Warnings- Rated M- future chapters likely to be censored. Slash (spark-rape included in future chapters) and violence._

_Disclaimer- I do not own Transformers or its characters._

_Verse- Movie-verse._

_Units of Time: Astrosecond- 1 second, Klik- 1 minute, Cycle- 1 hour, Orn- 1 day, Decacycle- 1 week, Meta-cycle- 1 month, Solar cycle- 1 year, Vorn- 1 million years._

_Unbetaed._

_All mistakes are my own._

_Hope you all enjoy it._

* * *

My Second

Chapter One- Found 

'What do you mean he's _down there?'_

Prowl glared up at Megatron, glad Jazz was resting a servo on his back to support him, 'as I have just informed you, our scanners have picked up Starscream's signature about a mile beneath our pedes and the only entrance to such a place would be there. Ratchet has gone to retrieve him for you.'

The tyrant stared at the unassuming water merely steps from him then back up at the Autobots, flickers of distaste burning in their optics, with unhidden resentment. Engines growling in displeasure he walked to the edge of the water with clenched fists and scanned the area himself. Sure enough, just on the edge of his sensors, he could see his SIC's mark.

And if he searched for him hard enough in their link he could feel him, but painfully weakly.

Turning to the gaggle of Autobots behind him, the Warlord bit back a snarl and then withdrew in on himself.

When Starscream had vanished, simply disappeared from the Decepticon's radar completely, Megatron tore the Nemesis apart looking for him then dropped down to Earth when even Soundwave couldn't detect his Seeker.

Eventually, shamefully, when all his mechs on Earth failed to locate his bonded, the Decepticon Lord was driven to asking his _brother _for assistance.

When he told Starscream to leave his presence, he had not meant for his lover to flee the _ship. _Perhaps he was a little harsh with the smaller mech but it was for the younger's own good! He was only trying to keep his little mate safe, out of dangerous situations.

Starscream running from him was never intended…

A pulley system, chain stabbing through the centre of the pool to travel into the depths, perched beside the water. The Seeker, in selecting the almost perfect place to hide from Autobots and Decepticons alike, had entombed himself in what Megatron believed to be a situation straight out of the flier's nightmares.

Impenetrable darkness, not even a view of the sky…

Was Starscream punishing himself?

The tyrant was drawn out of his thoughts as the chain began to shift, clunking as it protested the movement, being forced to free the weight of two mechs from the pool.

Ratchet's luminous frame was clearly visible first cradling a slighter creature to his chassis carefully. The Autobot stood on the thin, but reinforced, platform, optics weary and form hunched. As soon as the metal slab met the grass, the medic was in action, leaping off to lay his charge gently on the ground before sliding a digit in-between Starscream's panelling searching for the catch.

It clicked open pliantly and the medic plugged himself into the access port, using his medical codes to try and force the Seeker's systems to reboot. Cursing, he crooked his digit at Jolt, calling for his assistance.

Megatron watched frozen, optics tracing over Starscream's frame. In the gloom of the Nemesis mech's figures were obscured and sometimes warped but in the harsh, unforgiving Earth sunlight Starscream's emaciation was cruelly highlighted. Unnaturally thin, the presence of the two Autobots crouching over him dwarfed him completely.

Bumblebee whirred quietly nearby, approaching slowly so as not to disturb the medics at work. Azure orbs scanned over the Decepticon SIC's frame, he turned suddenly on the Warlord with an accusing glare. Megatron remained stubbornly mute, ignoring the scout's silent condemnation as well as the sad, unsettled look that creased his brother's faceplates.

The Autobot CMO hissed in displeasure, 'we cannot repair him here, his shutdown is too advanced. He will have to come back to base with us.'

'Shutdown?' Megatron's voice disrupted the flurry of activity Ratchet's words provoked and the Autobots froze, staring collectively at their enemy.

The medic barely graced him with a look and notified the Decepticon harshly, 'he activated certain protocols with the intention of deactivating himself. His systems are shutting down at an alarming rate so, if you wish him to remain functioning with his processor intact, let us take him back to base so I may work on him with properly functioning tools.'

'The Nemesis-'

'Clearly from the condition of your mechs is completely inadequate to combat any form of damage above a scratch,' Ratchet interrupted with a dismissive wave of his servo.

'We'll give him back brother,' Optimus attempted to assure as the medics and Ironhide sped off with the flier in tow.

Their brotherly bond reconnected momentarily before the Decepticon slammed it shut, grabbing Bumblebee by the scruff as he did so. 'We will exchange them when you bring me back my second,' red orbs swirling in a rage that Optimus recognised as truly being helpless frustration.

His older brother had always hated feeling powerless…

The yellow mech managed to catch his leader's optic and gave a discreet nod. The Prime held his young friend's gaze for a klik to make certain Bumblebee was sure, then looked to Megatron warningly.

'Autobots, roll out,' Optimus ordered, speeding off after his other soldiers. Prowl and Jazz lingered for a few moments, the SIC squeezing the younger Autobot's shoulder while the saboteur flashed his visor encouragingly at his pupil.

Megatron dropped the smaller mech as they drove away, crossing the clearing to sit against a tree unsubspacing his fusion cannon as his frame slid down the thick, crackly surface. One servo held the weapon resting on his knee, aiming it roughly at the scout, as he held his chin with his spare appendage.

_Starscream tried to kill himself…?_

If he was hungry why didn't he say?

_M-Master_ _may I… have a sip of your energon…?_

The pitiable tone needled him and his optics dimmed. He did cut his second's energon rations but only to stop him flying away as often as he did to Primus knew where!

Shoulders slumping as the sky dyed itself a deep amber, late afternoon and evening quickly approaching, Megatron's engines rolled in discontent. The feeling was exacerbated when his optics caught the sitting Autobot's reproachful side glances.

The peaceful atmosphere the clearing provided, reminiscent of a human graveyard, failed to touch the Warlord as he glared hatefully at his captive.

The young Autobot scowled back with a reprimanding series of beeps.

'How is it that you are still so insolent?' Megatron growled, fangs bared.

'_Everybody tries to break me. Say they love me when they hate me. Baby you just can't bring me down. _

_Check on the rep, second to none._

_Hot stuff baby.'_

'_Enough!' _Megatron snapped, firing a warning shot into the water which blasted into the air before cascading down, glittering from the fading sunlight reflected off of it.

Bumblebee cycled his optics, unimpressed. If the tyrant wanted Starscream back unharmed, and if he was telling the truth about the Seeker being his bondmate he was sure to, he wouldn't lay a servo on the younger bot's plating.

Optimus would not be pleased.

Turning to face the tyrant, having sat cross-legged sideways on to him, the bright yellow mech pointed at the Decepticon Lord and gestured with his servos in a wave-like downwards motion to indicate Starscream's loss of weight.

'None of your business mechling,' the Decepticon Lord bit out, engines revving in warning.

'_Do you feel like a man, when you push her around? Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?'_

Megatron stared at the Bot incomprehensibly for a moment before something clicked in his processor. 'What… exactly are you accusing me of youngling? He belongs to me I can do as I wish with him.'

'_One day she will tell you that she has had enough.' _Bumblebee answered him simply, ominously, before falling silent.

The tyrant bashed his helm back into the tree and closed his optics, faceplates pointed to the sky.

Soon afterwards night fell, both figures remaining stationary, still and silent as statues.

* * *

At the Autobot base, Ratchet worked diligently on Starscream, trying to recall him out of his self-induced stasis. The only systems to be responding to him in any manner were the Seeker's spark itself and the flier's memory core.

It appeared Starscream had programmed his processor to play certain memories back to himself as his systems gradually powered down.

Why? Only the Un-maker knew.

'Starscream, you glitch, why would you do this to yourself? Megatron's a fragger but you've put up with him for _vorns_, what could he possibly have done to drive you to this?'

As he worked increasing amounts of physical damage became apparent beneath the flier's thin armour, some vorns old, other blemishes very recently made.

Easily the most shocking, however, were the scars within the spark chamber, the walls scratched and gouged, stained and blackened by incredibly powerful bursts of unnatural energy. Disturbingly, the crimson colour of the spark itself was tainted with its own mutilations, a sharp purple cycling around with and piercing the life energy in such a way that had to be incredibly painful for the Seeker.

Decepticons truly were baffling creatures.

Ratchet assumed the permanent damage must have been inflicted by Starscream's leader over a long period of time. Megatron might be an abusive slagger, but he was also extremely possessive of his second, always had been, even to the point of separating his SIC from his beloved trine on more than one occasion.

An unspeakably cruel thing to do to one of Starscream's kind.

Staring with a renewed sympathy at the younger mech, the CMO continued his attempts to bring the Seeker online or… at least to make Starscream's passing as painless as possible. For an astrosecond the thought occurred to him that the option of deactivation may be the more merciful one because, even if he succeeded in reviving the Decepticon, he would be forced to hand him back over to his leader; and even though Megatron claimed they were bonded it still seemed all but a death sentence. This thought was quickly and guiltily squashed by the core of his programming to do no harm, especially to someone so clearly vulnerable in his care.

Equipment whirred and beeped around him in various states of distress and the medic's ministrations became more rushed, but no less skilled. Jolt stood opposite him, work too delicate for him to offer much assistance, but there if his mentor required him.

Cycles later, Starscream was still not online but was stable, shutdown processes slowly beginning to reverse despite some resistance. Ratchet was connected to several of the Seeker's access ports, overriding the internal orders the Decepticon initiated shortly after leaving his faction.

If Megatron truly wanted Starscream back after all of this, he better not frag it up.

Or Ratchet would murder him.

* * *

_Thanks for reading and please review._

Songs used:

Poison's _Can't __Bring Me Down._

Styles Of Beyond featuring Mike Shinoda's_ Second to None._

Donna Summer's _Hot Stuff._

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus's _Face down_**.**


	2. The Beginning

___Author's Notes- Hi, for those of you who have read Old Patterns this is the story I was referring to. This chapter is the proper beginning to the fic set a few years before Found- so any events that will eventually reference DOTM will be later than originally set. This chapter begins from the rooftop scene from ROTF and any recognisable dialogue or events is taken from the film._

___Special thanks to those who favourited, alerted and left kudos. As well as to Autobot Firekat, Starlove, moonlightnight1, Mizz Arcee, poisonouswaffle'n-stuffs, Iwanita, The-writing-Mew, and for reviewing._

_Bold- Comm link._

_Italics- Thoughts/memories/link speak._

_Pairing- Megatron and Starscream._

_Warnings- Rated M- Slash (spark-rape included) and violence._

_In merges- Bold and Italics- Megatron's spark speak. Italics- Starscream's spark speak._

_Disclaimer- I do not own Transformers or its characters._

_Verse- Movie-verse._

_Units of Time: Astrosecond- 1 second, Klik- 1 minute, Cycle- 1 hour, Orn- 1 day, Decacycle- 1 week, Meta-cycle- 1 month, Solar cycle- 1 year, Vorn- 1 million years._

_Unbetaed._

_All mistakes are my own._

_Hope you all enjoy it._

* * *

Chapter Two- The Beginning

Landing on the building Megatron had directed them to, Starscream deliberately aimed to place himself as far from his leader as possible. Although the tyrant had finally killed his rival after vorns upon vorns of fighting, the Seeker's Lord seemed dissatisfied, anger thrumming dangerously in his energy field.

'That went well,' the Warlord muttered with more than a hint of sarcasm, not truly looking at his second.

Approaching tentatively, unwittingly presenting his detached arm to his leader, Starscream's processor tried frantically to work out why Megatron seemed so borderline enraged despite the huge blow the larger mech had just dealt to their enemies. The Autobots managed to rescue the child, true, but how long did they expect to protect him without their Prime? 'We've… lost the boy, Master. The Autobots must be shielding their signals.'

Surely Megatron would see it was not his fault? He had been fighting Prime alongside his own leader, losing a limb in the process however temporarily. Starscream hadn't ran, he'd fought with the others to help his Master.

And the boy was so _small. _In the midst of a fight, battle instincts screaming in the Seeker's processor, he could admit he got distracted from his primary task but…

As soon as Megatron turned to face him, fear blanketed Starscream's processor, wiping away his half-panicked reasoning. He didn't move away quickly enough, the tyrant grabbing his retrieved arm from him before he could pull it away. 'No,' he squeaked as the Decepticon Lord snatched him off the roof, slamming him down like trash onto the harsh surface so his faceplates bounced off it cruelly.

'I can't even rely on you to swat a simple insect?' Incredulity, mocking, disgust and a hundred more emotions were expressed in those few words, portraying Megatron's sheer revulsion of his SIC at that moment. Compounding this was a sharp kick to the stomach, so forceful it span Starscream onto his back, and the return of his limb, thrown into his chassis with the strength Megatron might have used to strike him with a shockstick after one of his failures or betrayals; sending a whip-like sensation blazing across the SIC's chest for a moment.

'One insect among seven billion!' Starscream tried to argue, hurt infusing his voice with a kind of anger of his own.

'Shut up!' Megatron snapped, ramming a pede into his second's slighter frame, narrowly avoiding Starscream's interfacing panel and crushing the Seeker's severed arm. Grinding their metal together for a few moments in chastisement, Starscream's frame helplessly twisting towards the edge of the rooftop as sparks flew off them and onto each other and the surface beneath them.

'He could be anywhere,' Starscream pleaded, servo flicking out to stroke Megatron's metal suppliantly. A relieved grunt burst from him as the tyrant applied just a little more pressure for an astrosecond before the weight of his Master abruptly left him, their metallic bodies disconnecting in an electric, sparkling shower.

'Then we will force them to find him for us!' The tyrant declared, beginning to launch into one of his impromptu speeches.

Megatron's pede sent a vibration through Starscream's frame as it met the ground, but the Seeker took advantage of the brief calm and his Master's distraction to collect and repair himself.

'It's time for the world to know of our presence. No more disguises. No mercy! The time has come for my Master's arrival.'

Starscream flinched, he had known the Fallen would be freed eventually but it was not an idea he relished, the ancient former Prime being even more insane than his most dedicated disciple was. Perhaps if he used Megatron as a buffer, keeping the older mech firmly between himself and the vile being his Master served, things would be alright.

Megatron stopped speaking, staring off into the glaring Earthen sunlight as his frame took on a contemplative stance. Starscream stared at his Lord's flexing claws with growing apprehension, a whimper itching at his lip components as the tyrant's helm slowly turned to look down on his second.

'M-Master?' He scurried backwards until his servo met air, talons sliding down the side of the structure.

Megatron advanced almost casually, knowing his second would not dare flee him, not now. 'These last two solar cycles my dear Starscream,' the Decepticon Commander's voice was almost seductive, 'you have been very _disobedient _haven't you? The Fallen is most displeased, _I _am most displeased, with you.' The Warlord loomed over his SIC, bending to wrap his servo unforgivingly around Starscream's throat, lifting him effortlessly into the air.

Kicking his pedes instinctively, Starscream's ventilations hitched when Megatron's chassis parted to reveal his purple-flecked, vicious crimson spark. It swirled with an energy and a power that the Seeker was forced to admit he could never hope to rival.

'Be _quiet!_' The older mech suddenly snapped, a callous backhand sending Starscream's helm flying to one side.

For a klik Starscream was baffled, then he realised from watching the small clip his memory banks had stored of the last few moments that he had been imploringly chanting 'no,' ever since his leader laid a servo on the soft metal shielding his vocaliser.

Megatron's callused servo crushed the tip of a wing as he gripped it to pull his second closer, 'you left me at the bottom of the ocean for two years,' he hissed, 'and before then you failed me and my Master countless times over. You have earned this most diligently little one and over such a long period of time.'

The flier stared at Megatron with fear-widened optics, 'Master _please_.'

Growling, Megatron tightened his grip on the wing, 'open up Starscream, do not make me tell you a second time.'

The Seeker shuddered but opened his spark chamber, ruby orbs gazing beseechingly up at his leader who released the damaged wing to stroke at the bared life force beneath him.

'There's my clever second,' he smirked contemptuously.

'Please My Lord not too long, please?' The Seeker whispered as Megatron drew him closer.

'Only what you deserve Starscream,' his leader crooned in a mock comforting tone , 'now…'

Their sparks crashed together in a blaze that complimented the soft colouring of the sky. Starscream howled in anguish, agony storming through him as it spiralled outwards from his spark. He was vaguely aware of his back hitting the ground once more as Megatron rose over the top of him, the tyrant purring, moaning loudly in pleasure as his life force consumed that of his second's.

Every emotion Starscream heard earlier in his Master's voice, he could feel flowing mercilessly through him in that klik. Megatron's utter hatred tore through him, not entirely directed at him, but poured into him nonetheless. The tyrant's unrelenting disappointment however was for Starscream and Starscream alone…

_**You had so much potential… All of it wasted because of your own fragging pride, your ridiculous ambition…**_

Shrieking, Starscream's servos began to claw at his helm as Megatron's assault on his spark continued and spread to his processor, as if his very essence- almost like a smaller version of himself surrounded by a shimmering, electrical red border in his processor's optic- was being shredded.

Disgust in his weaknesses and failures coupled with a deep sense of shame in him broadcasted into Starscream's spark from his leader. Embarrassment and a damning sense of betrayal churned into his tanks until the Seeker was no longer sure whether the feelings battering at him were Megatron's or his own.

A devastating sense of self-loathing grew in him, developing and mutating with each pulse of energy that his Master shot into his smaller frame; his spark lost in the hurricane of Megatron's overwhelming life essence. Blast after blast of cold emotion slammed through him until all he could do was unconsciously convulse on the rooftop beneath the massive bulk of the Warlord, too weak to emit a sound above a mew.

He couldn't even feel the Dark Energon, though he knew it was there, poisoning his systems. As much as he had always wanted it, Megatron had made it painfully clear countless times that he lacked the ability, the constitution to cope with let alone wield such a power.

Eventually, an unknown amount of time later, the tyrant withdrew. Pulling away from his second and standing, frame seeming to glow with the energy stolen from Starscream's spark, he nudged his pede into his Air Commander's side. 'Up.'

Starscream stared up at him unseeing, but obeyed. Megatron's presence in his spark rendering him unable, no, unwilling to defy the older mech. Sense of self stripped down so completely, he always accepted any guidance offered after… afterwards.

Swaying on his thrusters, Starscream again complied when the tyrant ordered him to close his chamber. Everything felt dull and slow as Megatron gradually backed him off the edge of the building, the Warlord's large servo pressing into Starscream's throbbing chassis. 'Hunt down the boy then progress to Egypt.'

'Yes Master,' Starscream whispered an astrosecond before he began to fall, air screaming as it slashed past his audios.

His transformation process took several kliks longer than normal so that he was almost perilously close to smashing into the cold concrete before he managed to change into his alternate form.

The fleeting link he shared with Megatron from their merge would stay in full-force for only an orn or two but while in effect Starscream was left feeling rather lost in his spark, like it was no longer his own, and his processor seemed dampened, whirring far slower than the SIC knew it should. Eventually his energy levels would recover and his energon would purge most of the corruption from his systems but until then he would flutter from circuit-deep numbness to a burning agony that would engulf his entire frame.

Flying relatively lazily through the air, he went in search of Megatron's fleshling.

* * *

Starscream crashed to the ground, sand flying up around him and dust staining his frame a light orange. The attack on his systems had begun shortly after informing his Master of the presence of Megatron's fallen brother, and the Seeker wondered if he was being unconsciously punished for the news by the tyrant. Clutching his chassis, he dropped to his knees shuddering, leaning on the side of a pyramid in an attempt to ground himself. Mewling softly, the Seeker closed his optics tight as pressure built inside his helm.

Hiding from the battlefield as he tried to ride the wave of pain overwhelming his systems out, a high-pitched keen escaped his mouth before he could muffle it with his talons, a servo rising to dig his cruel digits into his throbbing helm in a hopeless attempt to somehow scratch the pain out.

Rocking, optics shut tight, he wondered just how Megatron ever expected him to fight like this.

But then, the Warlord had never cared before, even when Starscream was a mere junior officer with an unblemished record and the tyrant had begun doing this to him as a form of punishment and control…

'_Starscream!' _

The Seeker's helm shot up, optics flying open as the cry met his audios and his spark simultaneously. Rising back into the air, he quickly spotted his fallen leader sprawled in the sand. Fighting through the agony-induced red fog before his optics he shot through the sky, avoiding the stray enemy and friendly fly darting through the clouds.

Landing behind his Master, Starscream approached him cautiously, waiting to see what Megatron wanted him to do. Over Megatron's shoulder, the Seeker could not help but feel relieved at the sight of the Fallen sinking to his knees in a pool of his own gleaming orange life energon.

The flicker of despair from Megatron, however, obliterated his own thoughts on the matter.

'Not to… call you a coward Master, but… _sometimes _cowards _do_ survive,' he coaxed, standing as close to his leader as he dared. As soon as it became clear that Megatron had acknowledged him, Starscream turned away not yet ready to look his Lord in the optic and clambered up the wall before him to transform and take off into the sky.

'This isn't over,' he distantly heard Megatron mutter as, on this rare occasion, his Master began to follow him.

Once any immediate danger had passed, Starscream fell back behind Megatron, not wanting to provoke his Lord's ire again so soon…

However, it quickly became apparent that the tyrant was far more injured than Starscream originally thought as the Warlord began to fall soundlessly from the sky, passed out and engines dead.

Diving down as fast as his abused systems would allow, Starscream transformed into bipedal mode and hit the lush ground, a relief after the itchy atmosphere of Egypt, moments after his Master crash-landed.

Rushing forward, he subspaced the small pieces of Megatron that had broken off on impact and then began the painstaking task of manually transforming his leader back into his natural form, knowing it would be marginally easier to transport him back to the Nemesis that way. It took almost a full cycle to complete the transformation, through essential parts being missing and Starscream's growing fatigue, but the Seeker ultimately shouldered a successfully converted Megatron as he prepared to carry the larger mech home.

Joints protesting the weight and venting hard, Starscream forced himself into the air, Megatron's form draped down his back strut.

Progress to the Nemesis was slow and breaking through the Earth's atmosphere was near impossible but, a couple of cycles later, the flier landed in the Nemesis, almost in the exact spot his Master had a few orns before. Grunting with the strain, damaged himself now from carrying Megatron's weight in the manner he'd been forced to, he dragged himself and his Lord down their base's hallways.

Finally entering the deserted med-bay- the Constructicons had not arrived yet- Starscream laid his leader out and started to repair him.

His spark insisted he did so, no matter how momentary it was that Megatron's was its mate.

When he had done all he could for the older mech, Starscream collapsed to the sterilised floor exhausted. However, anxious about how his Master would react should the larger mech wake to find his second there, the Seeker scampered through the med-bay doors but no further.

His systems gave out and he fell temporarily offline, frame slumped against the wall directly opposite the wide, stained grey doors.

* * *

_Starscream?_

The flier's optics flickered to life for an astrosecond, the world coming into a blurred focus, before they shuttered again. Strong arms wrapped around him and consciousness fluttered away like a leaf on the breeze.

When he next woke it was to a soft berth, pillows emblazoned with the faction emblem were carefully placed to support his wings which, on closer inspection, Starscream found to be completely repaired; the crushed tip in particular had been gently straightened, the fine circuitry set back into place.

Staring at it curiously as it swayed slowly against the soft surface, Starscream bit back a cry when Megatron's servo suddenly, but lightly landed on his lower abdomen and began to rub it in soothing circles. The Warlord reached down with his other appendage, encouraging his second's chassis to part.

Apprehensively, Starscream obeyed the tacit order, twisting his helm to one side and closing his optics tight in dread. Kliks later a flood of warmth washed through him, radiating outwards through his spark. His processor cleared and his energon flow normalised as the Seeker tentatively glanced up at his leader, mewling as his leader's energy field sank into his, synchronising surprising effortlessly.

Megatron was balancing above him, his blazing spark lighting up the room like a fire in the dark.

_**You… saved me.**_

Starscream turned his helm to properly look at his leader, baffled by the coaxing in the merge that had never been there before.

_M-Master?_

Encouragement trickled through like a babbling brook, allowing him to think easily even as he couldn't help but send confusion back. Megatron had never allowed the Seeker to send Starscream's own messages and emotions back to him, keeping his side firmly locked down as he overcame Starscream's spark with an ease born of experience.

_**Yes little one, I'm here. Shh now, just follow my lead.**_

Megatron recalled his energy, influence and the remnants of Dark Energon back into himself, gifting Starscream back in return the strength he had stolen. Once Starscream's systems were purged of the worst the Warlord perpetually carried in his own metallic body, Megatron began to pulse pleasure- overpowering in its own way, but welcomed by the flier after vorns of suffering when this experience was thrust upon him- into his second's spark and through that the rest of the Seeker's circuitry.

An unfamiliar feeling, an electrical charge the flier's processor at first struggled to identify, built through his systems, heat pooling almost unbearably in his tanks. Cooling fans clicking on as his engines screamed on behalf of his vocaliser, the already damaged and fragile device giving out under the strain of the rushing power running freely through his frame.

Megatron internally cushioned him, wrapping his essence around his second's. _**I have you. **_

_But… _Starscream whispered his self curling into Megatron's offered being, a form that for the first time the Seeker could actually see without the fog of the Warlord's rage obscuring it, bordered by a rich purple electricity.

The older mech was actually rather beautiful.

_**Later, **_the larger mech crooned, driving wave after wave of bliss and ecstasy over the merge.

Starscream's mouth opened in a silent howl as overload struck him, the charge finally cresting and dispersing around his systems, leaving him convulsing on his Master's berth. Megatron growled, feeling his SIC's overload not just through their joined sparks but through the delighted flier's energy field, and followed soon after allowing himself to drop offline as his Air Commander had done.

When Starscream onlined, Megatron's arms were wrapped around him, the tyrant's claws lightly playing with and stroking his wings. A series of contented clicks and chirps spilled from his weakened vocaliser, nuzzling instinctively at the tyrant's chassis.

Megatron watched his second's curious behaviour, a thoughtful expression on his faceplates, feeling their energy fields intermingle and tease each other. Starscream stared up at him, keeping their ruby orbs locked, with all the inquisitiveness of the scientist he was.

'Recharge Starscream,' the Decepticon Lord, broke optic contact to lay back on his berth, pulling Starscream with him to pillow the Seeker's helm on his broad chassis, one of the flier's wings resting over him, the other across the soft metallic sheet. 'We have much to discuss very soon and not a lot of time to recover, make the most of it little one.' For once there was no scorn or mockery in the pet name, and Megatron sounding more sated than anything else.

Starscream nodded slowly, optics beginning to flicker closed as Megatron's field soothingly caressed his.

Despite, because of, the losses and the cruelty the previous orn had seen, Starscream was willing to take comfort and care when it was offered.

Enjoying feeling physically, emotionally and mentally _whole _the Seeker allowed himself to fall offline, processor carefully blank of what tomorrow could bring.

* * *

_Thanks for reading and please review._


End file.
